


Companionship is a Dish Best Served Warm

by SomehowIManage



Category: The Book of Mormon - Ambiguous Fandom, The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: 12 Days of BOM, Christmas Eve, Fluff and Angst, Loneliness, M/M, Restaurants, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28083954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomehowIManage/pseuds/SomehowIManage
Summary: Alone on Christmas Eve, restaurant owner, Kevin Price, finds that he is not the only person in the building who aches for companionship.Day One of the 12 Days of BOM!Prompt: "Stay. You can't spend Christmas Eve alone."
Relationships: Elder "Connor" McKinley/Kevin Price
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: 12 Days of Book of Mormon (2020)





	Companionship is a Dish Best Served Warm

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

Kevin was anxious for the next hour to fly by. It was Christmas Eve, and there was nothing he wanted more than to go home, pop open a bottle of wine, and sulk before going to an empty bed. While he was immensely proud of his accomplishments this past year—becoming co-owner of a local chain restaurant was no small feat and required a lot of effort and hard work (though at two restaurants total, perhaps “chain” was a bit of a stretch). While Kevin had at worst a moderately successful career and was making decent money, he couldn’t help but wish he had a little more. There had to be more to life than just money and career. Kevin looked out at the sparse tables left, most of which were couples and families. _That’s_ what he was missing. Companionship. Love. Kevin sighed. The last relationship he was in was three years ago and he wasn’t interested in hookups. Even the friend department wasn’t amazing these days. He neglected the few friends he did have once he advanced more in his career and became busier. Now he just felt awkward reaching out at this point. Additionally, the two friends who made sure he stuck around—Arnold and Nabulungi—both traveled to Uganda to visit Nabulungi’s family over the holiday. To put it plainly, Kevin was very, very alone for the next few days.

Slowly, but surely, tables began to clear out as people headed home with their loved ones, anticipating the joy that would be felt the next morning. Well, felt by them. Probably not Kevin. As he stared off into the dining room, he noticed a single man by himself.

_Huh. The person with him probably went to the bathroom or something. But…he looks kind of sad…_

The man was staring sadly into his untouched cheese fries. Kevin didn’t know why, but he felt like he should check in on him. He slowly made his way over.

“How is everything, sir? Can I get you anything?” Kevin asked with a smile. The man sighed.

“I wish I could tell you something to make this night better,” the man chuckled humorlessly.

“Well, what’s wrong?” Kevin asked. “Mind if I take a seat?” he asked. The man gestured to the chair for him to go ahead. Kevin took the seat.

“Well, I was supposed to meet up with my date, but it looks like I got stood up… For the third time…” the man muttered.

“ **You** got stood up?” Kevin asked. The man was attractive, with bright blue eyes, red hair, and a slender figure. “There’s definitely not any hope for the rest of us then.” The man scoffed.

“Yeah, okay. I’m sure you have no problems in the area of romance.” Kevin shook his head.

“Single for over three years now,” Kevin corrected. “My name’s Kevin.” He stuck out his hand for the man to shake. He took it.

“Connor,” he responded with a smile. “So, how long have you been working here, Kevin?”

“For two years and now I’m the co-owner,” Kevin responded. Connor’s eyes widened.

“Hey, congratulations, man! That’s awesome! You’re running a great place here.”

“Thanks, it’s a lot of work, but I like it,” Kevin smiled sadly. “So what are you up to for the rest of the holiday?”

“Well, I’ll probably just go home and sleep until tomorrow, wake up, open up the presents that my parents sent me, and just drink the rest of the day, I guess…” Connor pouted slightly.

“Well, I give you credit for holding out until Christmas to open up your presents,” Kevin offered. Before he could add anything else, Meghan, one of Kevin’s employees, came over to the booth.

“Hey, Kevin, if it’s okay for you, I’m going to head out. The only place that wasn’t swept is this booth and you said you would mop tonight, right?” she asked. Kevin glanced down at his watch. It was already 8:24pm, almost a half hour past closing time.

“Oh wow, I didn’t know it was this late. Sure, Meghan, you can get going. Thanks so much and have a very Merry Christmas!”

“Thanks Kevin, you too!” she smiled brightly and then turned to Connor. “Merry Christmas!” Connor smiled and wished her a Merry Christmas as well.

“Well, I suppose I’ve overstayed my welcome,” Connor said softly, standing up from the table. “Thanks for the service and the company.” Kevin frowned. He didn’t know why, exactly, whether it was just his own feeling of loneliness or him strangely feeling drawn to Connor for some other reason. “Do you think I could get these in a to-go box?” Connor asked, pointing at his untouched fries.

“No,” Kevin blurted out. Connor scrunched his eyebrows together. “No, sorry, I mean, stay. You…you can’t spend Christmas Eve alone.” Connor looked at him, a question in his eyes.

“Stay,” Kevin insisted. Connor hesitated before nodding his head and sitting back down in the booth.

“Alright,” he said. “So, you’re also alone tonight?” Kevin nodded.

“Until after New Year’s. My best friend and his wife are visiting her family in Africa, and shockingly, I don’t really have any other friends. My family lives in Utah and I had to run the business over the holiday because, well, no one else wanted to, so traveling wasn’t an option this year. So yeah, alone as ever,” Kevin shrugged.

“I’m sorry, that sucks,” Connor replied. I’m in a similar situation. I just moved to the area about a month ago, so I’m still trying to find friends, dates, some sort of companion,” But all I’ve gotten is stood up and lonelier.”

“So, who’s the poor sucker who made the worst decision of their life by ditching you?” Kevin asked. He found himself hoping it was a man, though he pushed that thought to the back of his head.

“His name’s Richard,” Connor replied, rolling his eyes.

“Huh, action fits the name,” Kevin mused. Connor cocked his head.

“What?”

“Well, he sure sounds like a real Dick, so the name Richard makes sense,” Kevin joked. Connor snorted in response.

“Okay, you get brownie points for making me laugh at such a stupid joke,” Connor teased. Kevin grinned at him.

“I’ll take it. Besides, I’m honestly kind of glad that he stood you up. I got to meet you,” Kevin said quietly with a semi hopeful smile. Connor smiled back softly.

“Me too.” The men ended up talking well into the hours of the night, neither one wanting to leave the other. Their conversation was easy flowing and warm, unlike the cold cheese fries they had been picking at over the past few hours. They discovered that they had quite a few things in common, though their differences were not drastic. Throughout their conversation, Kevin continued to feel that draw to Connor. He genuinely enjoyed just being with him and talking to him. Something just felt right between the two of them and he desperately hoped that Connor felt the same way. Once the clock struck one in the morning, they both decided it was best to call it a night.

“Thanks again for everything, Kevin. I really enjoyed tonight,” Connor told him sincerely.

“I enjoyed it too, so thank **you.** This was definitely the best night I’ve had in a while,” Kevin told him. He bit his lip nervously, “Would you, maybe, want to do this again? I mean, it doesn’t have to be exactly like this—or...or it could if you wanted to—but I just really enjoy your company, and maybe I’m crazy, but I think we might have something here, and—”

Connor cut him off with a soft kiss against his lips that Kevin instantly melted into, all ramblings forgotten. After a few seconds of the chaste kiss, Connor pulled away, gently resting his forehead against Kevin’s.

“I think we have something too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading/commenting/leaving kudos! I hope you enjoyed it! :)


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